Words Of The Ocean
by Misgiving Writer
Summary: To some, a word is just a word. To others, it is more than that. It is a life, a memory, a moment frozen in time. It is fear, it is love, it is friendship. Words are history.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This? This is a character introspective. For each word, I am to write exactly one sentence. Nothing more, nothing less. Just to get a better grasp on the multi-leveled character that is Usopp. Excuse the huge amount of commas, please.

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1. Book - They think that it's just a book filled with blue-prints, with ideas for new weapons and improvements on the ship; Usopp knows that it's more, that inbetween those bits of knolwedge and idea, his life is being written.

2. Cool - It's what he has always wanted to be, what he never will be, what everyone around him is - _cool and strong and powerful_.

3. Cold - Sitting there, with shackles around his wrists and chains around his ankles, bound and gagged and blinded by the hot ash, Usopp wonders if it's normal to be this cold.

4. Young - They are adults by the time they reach the Grand Line, aged by weather and battles, and suddenly Usopp is aware that he has never truly been young.

5. Wrong - It's wrong and Usopp knows it, being out here with all these powerful fighters and going up against all of these strangers with weird powers, and all he has is his wooden slingshot and his wits.

6. Gentle - Their words are sharp on most days, their gazes angry, but Usopp knows that, underneath it all, they are gentle and caring and would never leave their nakama behind.

7. Last - This will last, the sniper insists, it will not end, the marksmen states, this place on the crew will not be lost, not like everything else in his life.

8. One - It is amazing, Usopp finds himself thinking some days, that he is the one that Luffy chose as a sniper when, really, there were countless men who were stronger and braver then he.

9. Thousand - People say that a good story-teller can weave a world in only a few words, Usopp thinks that his stories, with thousands of words and millions of characters, are still something to marvel at.

10. King - He will be king and that is a certainty, when he is Zolo will be the worlds greatest swordsman and Nami the first person to chart the entire Grand Line and Sanji the chef that everyone will die to have serve them, and Usopp, well, Usopp will just try his best to survive the trip.

11. Learn - There is so much to learn out here on the sea, so much that Usopp has to take in - sewing; because wounds don't close themselves, cooking; because they have yet to find a chef, building; for the Merry has to be kept in perfect condition, or Kaya would never forgive him; sometimes, he thinks that it's a little too much.

12. Blur - To begin with, every fight brings a different nightmare, a different wound that is forever etched into Usopp's memory - but, somewhere along the way, it all begins to blurr together and merge into one twisted picture.

13. Wait - "Hold it,' the sniper mutters to himself, voice hoarse and mouth tainted with his own blood, vision blurred but hands still, dilated pupils locked onto the oncoming onslaught of marines - then he pulls back and lets loose and his weapon flies straight into their ranks, exploding in a display of fire and blood and charred bodyparts.

14. Change - The change is subtle but it is there, masked by words of concern and helping hands, yes, they see a change in Usopp after Enies Lobby and they don't like it at all.

15. Command - Commanding isn't in Usopp's blood no matter how much he wishes it is, somedays though he just wants them to listen when he speaks.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Look, another update! And so soon! I'm sure that, by reading the variaty in sentences, you can tell that most of these aren't related? Sometimes they are, often they aren't. This is me, just trying to get a good grasp on Usopp's character. Enjoy!

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1. Need - For the longest time, Usopp worried that he would need to prove himself to his new crew, but, as time went by, he realized that they had accepted him from the start.

2. Vision - Some days, Usopp wonders what things would be like if he still had his vision - things like whether he would also be popping back pills, whether he would still be haunted by nightmares of water stained red, and whether or not he would still be their sniper.

3. Attention - He is a social person, yes, has always been one and always will be, but he does not crave attention and he does not need affection - he just needs trust.

4. Soul - Every person has a story to tell, each one part of a larger chapter, but it's only when no one believes in them or what they say that their soul starts to waver - and often, it's too late to be fixed.

5. Picture - They aren't just pictures, not to Usopp, no, the drawings that he makes are his life and his being and his very memories themselves.

6. Fool - People think that he's a fool for telling his stories, for telling his lies, they don't see the spark of truth and hope that is laced in each word.

7. Mad - "Get out! Just - just get out! Now!" Usopp shouts, and there is anger in his voice and betrayal in his eyes and, when he pitches something small and glass at the doorway, he knows only anger.

8. Child - When his father left, Usopp was nothing but a child; one year later, when his mother passed away, he had become an adult.

9. Fire - It's unnatural, really, for someone so afraid of everything to be so enamored with fire.

10. Shoulder - Chopper did his to set it but, after using the self-damaging impact dial so often, Usopp knows that his shoulder will never be the same.

11. Drugs - Usopp is not a doctor, far from it, but he knows drugs well - the kind to take away the pain, to numb the body, numb the mind, to save you when you're on Death's doorstep; last hopes when all else has failed, and he hates this knowledge more every day.

12. Compete - They are Devil Fruit users and power-houses, honed killers and trained fighters - yet, somehow, Usopp still feels that he has a chance to compete.

13. Play - Though he knows that it happened, somedays it feels like years have passed since the days when he played pirate on the beach.

14. Carnival - Carnivals are supposed to be fun, free places - but this, Usopp thinks with disgust, this is nothing more than a blood-bath.

15. Family - For years, Usopp had no family to speak of; no mother, no father, no aunt or uncle or cousin, no family willing to take him in - then, one day, he set foot on the beach and met, not just a crew, but a nakama all of his own.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Chapter Three and not a single review yet. *sighs* Oh well...Hope my silent readers still enjoy this!

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1. Pain - He isn't the strongest and his body is not marred with many visible scars but, none the less, somedays pain is all that Usopp knows.

2. Freedom - As a pirate, he is always on the run; as the sniper for one of the most wanted pirate captains in the Grand Line, there is danger around every corner; yet, out here in the middle of the ocean, he feels completely free.

3. Hands - There are times, when the ship is quiet and the adventures temporarily put on hold, when all is still but his mind and Choppers hooves, that Usopp will hold his hands in front of him and wonder, _when did they get so scarred?_

4. Regret - They think that his biggest regret is when he left the crew back during the Enies Lobby fiasco - but they are wrong, so very wrong, because Usopp doesn't regret quitting at all.

5. Prayer - It's common knowledge that the members of his crew are not religious, in fact Zolo has openly mocked any form of God on more then one occasion - yet, when the nights grow long and cold and his crew is nowhere to be found, Usopp still finds himself praying that they are alright.

6. Forgotten - _They'll come for me_, he whispers to himself, throat too raw for his voice to be raised much higher; _we're nakama_, he tells himself, clenching his jaw and refusing to speak; _I haven't been forgotten_, he tries to believe but, really, he is just wishing for the pain to end.

7. Often - "You don't tell stories that often any more, Usopp, is something the matter?" despite the simplicity of the question, it is all that the sniper can do to shake his head.

8. Aim - If there is one thing that never wavers, despite the fear and the pain and the loss of hope, it is Usopp's aim - for, no matter whether it is a flag that stands for the entire World Government or just a single marine in a group of hundreds, his hands are always steady.

9. Liar - Usopp knows that the majority of his crew think the same thing most of his village used to, that he is nothing more than a liar and a fool - they don't know that, when he lies, he is thinking of his mother.

10. Truth - It is seven years after Usopp leaves Syrup Village that he finally meets his father again, seven years before he finally learns the truth, and seven years before he has to tell his father that Banchina died right after the Red Haired Pirates left port.

11. Blood - Sanji is used to seeing Zolo come in from a fight with blood drenching his shirt and running in rivulets down his arms, that's how the swordsman is after all, but he isn't used to seeing their sniper, skin palid and body trembling, struggle to get to his feet as a crimson stain slowly coats the ground around him.

12. Listen - Usopp knows that the others think he's lying, or maybe just that he's gone crazy, which really is a possibility when he stops to think about it, but somedays he swears that, if he just listens close enough, he can hear the Merry speaking to him.

13. Failure - There have been many things in life that Usopp has been unable to do - properly stitch closed a wound is one, killing a man is another; yet, as he stands by and watches his precious ship burn down to nothing, he realizes that he has never felt more like a failure.

14. Laugh - Later, Usopp knows that he will have to fight men with unbelievable powers and unstables minds, people twice as strong and as big as he is, devil fruit users and marines, but for now, he is quite content to sit back and laugh with Luffy.

15. Young - When Usopp was just a young boy, he thought of his father as a hero, someone to respect and look up to, someone that he should strive to be like, no matter the costs - after his mother passes away, however, he begins to grow up and see that even Yasopp is not as perfect as he seems.


End file.
